Kind of a bourgeois question but whatever. People do actually listen to these radio stations. They will actively seek out radio stations that really do just play the same five or ten rock hits from the seventies, maybe mixed with some modern garbage. Why do they do this? What is going through their minds on the conscious and unconscious levels?
I know a lot of people that largely stopped seeking out new music past high school or their early 20s at the latest.
This is a measurable thing. There have been studies that show folks think the best music was made during their late teens to early 30s and generally stop seeking out more stuff after that. But this only shows most people are fools.
I think hitting your thirties and having more responsibility (especially for people who have kids) leaves less time for finding new music.
At least I know there’s cool music being made, but I’m just too tired to spend time finding and listening to it lol
You also don’t have new music marketed at you nearly as aggressively
I hit 30 and all of a sudden Spotify won’t play anything newer than 2017
You are also no longer the target audience. Pop music is especially bad at this. It becomes instantly unrelatable once you’re in your 30s. Songs about partying, songs about tfw no bf/gf, songs about pursuing dreams, songs about being yourself. How about songs about lower back pain or songs about extended family fighting in probate court over some dead uncle’s McMansion?
I feel like that’s sort of what it is for me, I used to hang out with friends after school or my siblings and listen to music, we’d share stuff and get into new things that way. We aren’t able to all get together like that anymore with everyone’s responsibilities and living different places. And I don’t trust youtube or bloggers to tell me what’s good.
I used to go any old cheap show at this tiny venue when I was in my 20s. The venue totally didn’t survive 2020, so I can’t just blame getting old and busy lol
Internet radio stations can be quite good for discovering new music.
I discovered that, contrary to my one experience at a club I was there to listen to minimalist techno, math rock actually fucking slaps via some random station that kept playing it
I have a handful of solid university radio stations in my area, so that’s what I usually listen to in the car (the rare moments where I get to choose).
Remembering all the “huh, that was cool” stuff to check later is a separate problem that I’m ok with lmao
AFAIK it has something to do with establishing your in-group/clique and makes everything not part of that sound like complete ass. I think I’m in this category, because a lot of country and pop sounds like nails on chalkboard to me.
But I still listen to the new stuff being made in the genres I do like. There’s stuff I used to listen to that I can’t stand anymore (JFC what was in the water back in the 2000s that made anyone think numetal was a good idea?).
Nu metal was a CIA psyop to discredit rage against the machine.
I will not elaborate.
I wonder if the means of discovery has changed significantly too. Most of the stuff I discovered in my teens and 20s was via the radio, attending music festivals, or recommendations from people in my circle of friends at the time.
As I’ve gotten older I’ve listened to less and less radio. Listen to mostly Spotify out of convince. My circle has shrank and changes. I go to less music festivals as my time and money is dedicated elsewhere.
I can’t imagine I’m that unique in my experience.
Radio is also dying as a music discovery tool since most stations are owned by one company now
There are some songs I’ve been listening to for decades. But there are a lot of them. And I’m always looking for new music, too.
Yeah I still listen to music that’s decades old too but it seems like a lot of people stagnate and decide everything worth listening to has already been made.
If it was an age-based thing, I’d expect the stations to slowly move forward in time, as whatever age the average person was in high school creeps forward in time. Instead it’s been the 70s and 80s for decades.
Before you turn on the radio: I wanna Rock
When its on: hahaha I’m rockin’
they’re specifically thinking nothing. it’s noise they put on to not be alone with their thoughts. the automobile equivalent of turning on but not watching friends or the office for the 9th time
“thank fuck this isn’t top 40, country, or NPR”
sometimes I just feel in the mood for some steely dan and how dare you criticize my listening habits
I’m thinking, "Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Biiiiiiirrrrrrrrrd, yeah!🤘"😎
There’s a meme that goes something like “The music back then wasn’t better, it just reminds you of a time when you had more hair, less responsibilities, and a smaller waistband.”
Even my super boomer ass father knows how to use and enjoys pandora.
What is going through their minds on the conscious and unconscious levels?
Not a whole lot I’d imagine
Haha
Every time I think, wow this song is 50 years old. We are so stuck in American nostalgia we can’t move past it. And that in 30 years radio stations will still be playing these songs. And then at some point I’ll die, and they’ll still be playing Journey, and they’ll be almost 100 years old
i remember the first time i heard INXS on a classic rock station and i was very upset
They’ll still be playing the same 3 Journey songs*
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
I feel attacked
So I’m in a work vehicle with someone I don’t know very well. The local top 40 pop and country stations suck. He doesn’t want to listen to a foreign language, so the Spanish station that plays mariachi bangers is out. I don’t really want to listen to classical music. So we put on the dad rock station, not because it excites either of us but because it is tolerable to both of us. We can both kinda recognize the melodies. I think the classic rock stations just are bland in a manner that makes them in offensive at times
Back in the day when I had to drive an hour and a half to and from work and before aux cables were around, I didn’t want to be in silence, and I hated the country and pop stations. Didn’t leave a lot of options. Nowadays I have a playlist of like 100 songs (mostly power metal), and a much shorter commute.
As for what was going through my mind, generally as little as possible. When you’re driving long distances in stop and go traffic while half-asleep you go into autopilot.
I don’t know what the radio situation is like over there, where I live the options are basically mainstream pop, dad rock, local traditional music let’s say, and one or two stations with some variety of ethnic stuff, jazz, latin etc.
When I don’t really care about connecting to Bluetooth and choosing what to listen, I’ll usually either go for the ethnic/jazz/latin station, or for one of the dad rock stations and hope that they play some metal songs instead of AC/DC for the trillionth time, when they play that I just instantly close the radio nowadays I can’t take it anymore.
